


Cause the Wounds Never Heal

by dangerusliasons



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-07
Updated: 2010-07-07
Packaged: 2017-10-10 10:45:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/98895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dangerusliasons/pseuds/dangerusliasons





	Cause the Wounds Never Heal

_'Cause the wounds never heal_

xxxxx

Emily looks down at her arms, all scraped up. Ugly bruises line her stomach and chest as she looks at herself in the mirror. She looks like a human punching bag, earlier today that's exactly what she was.

In the terror that took her as she was being brutally beaten, she kept repeating, _don't give in_. The same words her mother always said to herself before an important negotiation. She'd heard those words a thousand times, maybe more. If she cracked, and her cover was blown, she wouldn't be at her home right now standing and inspecting the damage. She'd be on a cold steel table down at the morgue with a toe tag.

She's never really given up on anything in her life. Maybe because for the most part, she's barely had anything to call her own. Except when she moved out, her mother was furious, and they didn't talk for the longest time.

She hears the doorbell ring, and she jumps--startled. Quickly, she pulls on a worn out sweatshirt over her head and gingerly over the rest of her. Emily checks her clock, it's 1 in the morning. She moves to the door, looking through the peephole and she swears if it's some drunk again she might just get out her gun and shoot them.

"Hotch?" She says, to no one in particular, and pulls open the door. "You should be at home." She gently scolds and he looks just as beat up and worn out as she does.

"I want to let him sleep," is Hotch's only reply as he takes a step closer to her. "May I come in?"

She shakes her head, and nods, "Of course," he steps a few steps into her apartment and she shuts and locks the door behind them.

 

"Let me guess, couldn't sleep? Or didn't want to go home." She says softly. Emily understands, the need to not be alone. Though she never would've pegged Hotch to be that sort of man.

"Both, actually." He takes a few more tentative steps into her home, pausing to look at the layout of the place. Nice, but sparse. Just like Emily Prentiss. Not too much, but just enough to make it look habitable.

"Coffee?" She offers, walking over to the kitchen and thanking a dozen entities for the fact that she forgot to make it that morning, so it was all ready and all she had to do was flip the switch on.

"Please," his voice is rough, and low and he coughs to clear his throat. "Emily..." he turns around to face her. "I was worried about you, after today...." It's a confession that comes as a complete shock to her. Hotch is always the strong one, the one to keep everyone together. But even Hotch has cracks in the facade, she now realizes.

The coffee brews, and she brings over two steaming mugs, offering him one part of the couch. He sits, almost never taking his eyes off of her. "You okay?"

"Yeah, sore and a little shaky. Doc says I'll be fine though."

"Good." Is his only response as he gulps the steaming liquid.

"Are you ok?" she gently asks, knowing that he'll only say as much as he wants to reveal. That's his nature and she will never ask him to change.

"Yeah. I'm...." he pauses, now seeming to stare at his cup as if it holds the answers. "I don't know."

"Yeah."

They sit there in companionable silence. Enjoying each others company. Neither one of them needs to be alone tonight.


End file.
